Sola Scriptura: One of the Most Helpful Reforms of the Reformation - Dr. Joel Beeke

What was one of the most helpful reforms that took place during the Reformation?

Joel Beeke explains in this video that one of the most helpful reforms was Sola Scriptura - the understanding that Scripture alone is sufficient. Acknowledging that Scripture alone was sufficient elevated Scripture to its most proper place. The Reformers understood that Scripture is our authority, that it is sufficient, and that it is not necessary to be an individual in the Roman Catholic Church to understand or read it.

Scripture is clear and authoritative in itself - not because the church says it is. God’s Word teaches us and it guides us. Ultimately, Scripture is the foundation of every part of our lives.

2 Peter 1:20-21 (NKJV) – “[N]o prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Dr. Joel R. Beeke serves as President and Professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics, as well as Academic Dean for students from the Heritage Reformed Congregations. He is currently a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a position he has held for 30 years. He is also editor of the Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, president of Inheritance Publishers, and vice-president of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society. He has written, co-authored, or edited eighty books and contributed over two thousand articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias. His Ph.D. (1988) from Westminster Theological Seminary is in Reformation and Post-Reformation Theology. He and his wife, Mary, have 3 children: Calvin, Esther, and Lydia.